Alibaba spends US$30m on global ad campaign

Alibaba.com (1688.HK), China’s largest online trading platform, said Tuesday it will spend US$30 million on an advertising campaign across more than 20 countries in Asia, America, Europe, Africa and Oceania, the Shanghai Securities News reported. Its first commercial was aired on CNBC in the United States on October 21 and it will also be launched on CNN and Fox by the end of November. China Business News reported last week that Alibaba had set aside US$2.2 billion (RMB15 billion) to help small- and medium-sized enterprises weather the ongoing global financial storm. The Shanghai Securities News did not make it clear whether the advertising campaign was considered part of that aid or whether the US$30 million global campaign fund is included in the US$2.2 billion package.